Q: Thank you for this interview, Rick. Can you tell us what your latest book, “Guardian in Magic”, is all about?

It is actually the first part of a series. It tells the story about a teenager that stumbles from a quite normal life into a wonderful world of mystery, conspiracy and magic, that had always been right before his eyes, hidden in plain sight. It tells a story about friendship and trust, and about the fact that things are not always as simple as they appear to be.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?

The story revolves around six teenagers who all share the interest in “esoterics”, amongst other things as they find out throughout the story. Lucas Trent, the title figure, is a 16 year old IT student, pretty much a loner, but with his heart in the right place. Darien is a year older, sort of the Wikipedia on legs of the group. Also an IT student and a real genius in theory. Marcus is the sporty guy, always a step ahead physically. The last boy, Cedric, is a little hard to grasp. He is the silent one. Always there when you need him most, but never really clear in what his intentions are. The two girls are the youngest and the oldest in the group. Stephanie is the youngster with her 15 years, a real beauty but a little shy. Jasmin is 20, like the good soul of the group. Not as good looking as Stephanie, but twice as charming with her words.

Looking at the sidelines the characters get mysterious. There for one is “Angel”, the mentor of the group. She seems always to be ahead of the game at least one step, but without ever showing her cards. And then there is the mysterious man in grey… Well, no one can tell what he’s all about. (Yet.)

Oh and of course there is the villain. “Wolfman” is the name. He could be the devils minion from his looks. He is satanic priest who causes the heroes more than one headache throughout the story.

Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?

They all have parts of real people, but most of them have many parts of many different people. I like to form them a little in like archetypes, so they do not primarily resemble someone, but resemble an idea.

Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?

I like to make the whole story 100% consistent. So the big picture is completely drawn before I write the first word of the text. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out that perfect in the end.

Q: Your book is set in Luton, England. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?

Honestly? I chose England because I wanted an English speaking country as the base and tried not to take the obvious route and choose the US. Luton came up simple: Took a map of England and blindly painted a dot somewhere… Voila… Luton… I have never been there by the way, so chances are high that my description doesn’t resemble the reality even a bit… I hope they will forgive me.

Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?

Some parts of it do, but mostly the setting gets created for the story, not the other way round.

Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?

The heroes are just learning the first vital lesson of their journey. Angel is about to explain them some things. (Without explaining them at all of course, but that’s a bit complicated.)

Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?

That’s a hard one, as taking out one scene will not make sense without knowing the surrounding. I will give you a quote instead:

“Be Yourself. You can only achieve something if you are truly behind it, and you can’t be while wearing a mask.” Angel says this to the heroes not very far into the book. Why do I think it’s worth mentioning? Because it is true in reality as much as it is in the book. And although this is a fantasy story there still are many things in there that are quite true in reality as well.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Rick. We wish you much success!

Thanks for the invitation. It was a pleasure being here.

Watch the trailer for Lucas Trent: Guardian in Magic

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